Find in Library

Uttarakhand is on fast growth path.  Several hydro-electric power projects, etc., are being constructed leading to increase in demand of raw material for construction which is obtained by mining of river beds.  River Nimmi is one tributary of river Yamuna, where river bed mining is rampant.  This study investigated the impact of anthropogenic activity on the habitat of zebra fish that is known to survive in small pools of water for a long period of time. The Shannon-Weiner diversity index of all the study sites ranged from 1.361 to 1.566, Simpson index of dominance ranged from 0.6444 to 0.6805 and Simpson index of diversity (1-d) range was between 0.3422 to 0.42. Various physicochemical parameters of water from different sites did not show significant variation.  Population of Daniodevario is falling rapidly which was recorded 129 in August 2012 to only in lower 40s in 2013 at site 2. This decline of population at site 2, that has maximum diversity, is mostly due to vanishing side pool due to anthropogenic activity. Our study shows that there is an urgent need to pay attention to the problem of habitat loss due to anthopogenicacitivty in river beds of Uttarakhand.